For a movie originally marketed as "40 stories of sheer adventure," what better way to see John McTiernan's seminal 1988 actioner Die Hard than in the shadow of Nakatomi Tower itself?
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That's just how 20th Century Fox celebrated the film's 30th anniversary on Saturday night, with an outdoor screening at the foot of Fox Plaza in Century City, which stood in for the famed fictional tower. Hundreds gathered on the roof of an adjacent parking garage at dusk as the gleaming structure provided a picturesque backdrop and the most movie-Mecca-like filmgoing experience this side of Devils Tower and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
"It was kind of the star of the movie," Bonnie Bedelia, one of the film's (other) stars, told Variety just before the screening. She and co-star Reginald VelJohnson were on hand to introduce the film for the fans in attendance, many of whom wore T-shirts emblazoned with a few of the movie's unforgettable lines.
"I love to meet intense fans," VelJohnson said. "They always come up to you and say their favourite thing in the movie, and I'll have to think a minute to remember what they're talking about! But I watch it and I see things I didn't even know were there before. It's the kind of movie that always surprises you when you watch it."
Neither actor was looking for a project like Die Hard when it came around. For Bedelia, it just didn't fit into her filmography at the time, which she admits she was somewhat precious about maintaining. It was actually Bruce Willis who turned producers onto her as a possibility.
"I was not looking to do an action movie," she said. "I said, 'That's not me. That's Sharon Stone or something. I'm just a gal.' They didn't want a glamour puss. They wanted someone who was pretty and could look like a leading lady, but had gravitas and you could believe was at a high level at a corporation, and yet could also look like she'd be married to a cop in New York. They were having a hard time casting it."
Producer Joel Silver ultimately convinced her to take it on. "He said to me, 'You're a wonderful actress and you've done wonderful work but more people will see you in this movie than the rest of your filmography put together.'"
Australian Associated Press
